Chapter FAQ

1. What is EWB?

“Engineers Without Borders – USA supports community-driven development programs worldwide through the design and implementation of sustainable engineering projects, while fostering responsible leadership.” We are a student organization that has a variety of projects, and invests in our members, and makes progress happen.

Engineers Without Borders is an amazing student organization that gives students leadership, construction, intercultural and management experience on real-world problems. We host training sessions to get our members familiar with common construction practices and tasks and ready to lead when they get to their professional careers. We have beneficial and efficient meetings with great speakers, fun socials and a great environment to learn and develop as a student for all majors. Why would you not want to join?

4. How do I get to go on a trip?

Only members of EWB can travel. To learn how to become a member see question #2. We are allowed to send 7 students and 1 mentor on each trip. Who goes on the trip is very heavily based on your consistent involvement. Although not everyone can always go, staying involved and persistently finding out how you can help greatly increases your chances.

5. What kind of projects does EWB do?

EWB works on projects that solve problems for deserving communities, such as supplying water to a town without a reliable or large enough source, building a library or computer center for schools, or working with power generation systems. The majority of our projects are in the range of $10,000-$40,000, with groups of 25-30 students working on design and preparations for around a year before we are able to travel to implement.

6. What if I want to get involved in EWB but do not want to travel? Or what if I want to get involved in the organization without doing specific design work?

We currently do not have any domestic projects, but there are plenty of other ways to get involved! We also have our all star development team, and organizational roles below them. If you’re interested in fundraising, publicity, media, or any other ways that you can help lead our organization feel free to email vpdevelopment.ewbtamu@gmail.com for more info.

7. Is there a National Office for EWB-USA?

Yes! EWB-USA is huge! There is a national office in Boulder, CO. EWB-USA has over 300 professional and student chapters with 12,000 members working on over 350 projects in 47 countries. For more information, click here. They help with oversight, quality control, conferences, and so much more.

8. Do I have to be an engineer to join?

No! We encourage people with a variety of backgrounds to come to a meeting and find out what we’re all about. We want diversified experience, and truly benefit from having a multidisciplinary team working on our projects!

9. How does EWB raise money for their projects?

Any way we can! Corporate sponsorships and grants are our largest sources of funding, followed by personal donations (always welcome!), as well as hosting the small fundraisers like profit shares, paid university clean up days, etc. Donate now!